UCLA Arts Newsletter

Faculty Spotlight 

On any given day, the work of our faculty enlivens museums, galleries, performance venues, lecture halls, public spaces, and more both at home and abroad. Their creative and scholarly contributions mine the complexities of the human condition, asking essential questions of our time while expanding the potential of creativity and the depth, diversity, and real-world impact of the arts. 

Kyle Abraham
World Arts & Cultures/Dance professor Kyle Abraham's dance company, Abraham.In.Motion is on tour—Dearest Home was recently performed at the Performing Arts Center in Purchase, New York, (Dearest Home will be presented at the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA this spring); The Quiet Dance/Grey/Absent Matter/The Getting will be performed at the August Wilson Center in Pittsburg, Pensylvania, Nov. 10 & 11; and Pavement will be performed at Espace in St. Ouen, France, Nov. 15 and at Sadler's Wells in London, England, Nov. 17 & 18.

Neil Denari
Architecture & Urban Design professor Neil Denari will give a lecture titled It's Always Different Even When It's The Same at Kent State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Nov. 7.

Dan Froot
World Arts & Cultures/Dance professor Dan Froot has been in residence at Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, culminating in the presentation of his performance work, Pang! at Legion Arts on Oct. 20 & 21. Pang! will be presented at the 24th Street Theater in Los Angeles, Dec. 2 & 3.

Erkki Huhtamo
Design Media Arts professor Erkki Huhtamo will give a lecture discussing the early history of mechanical theaters as a manifestation of emerging media culture at the L'outre humain: automates, performances mecaniques et cultures spectaculaires au seuil du XXeme siecle conference at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Nov. 2—4.

Barbara Kruger
Art professor Barbara Kruger has a solo exhibition, Forever, currently on view at Sprüth Magers, Berlin, through Dec. 22 and a group exhibition, Like a Moth to Flame, at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, Nov. 3, 2017—Jan. 14, 2018.

Sylvia Lavin
Architecture and Urban Design professor Sylvia Lavin will give a lecture, Exhibition Models, at Kent State University College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Nov. 30.

Thom Mayne
Architecture and Urban Design distinguished professor Thom Mayne will give a lecture, Multiple Agendas, at Boston Architectural College, Nov. 16.

Lauren McCarthy
Design Media Arts professor Lauren McCarthy, together with Professor Casey Reas, organized and gave a talk at Processing Community Day at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oct. 21. McCarthy will perform new work, Embassy of Intimacy, at Dutch Design Week, Oct. 28 & 29 and The Conditional Studio, directed by faculty member Chandler McWilliams with participation from McCarthy and Reas, is presenting an installation at the Day for Night Festival in Houston, Texas, Dec. 15—17.

Chandler McWilliams
Design Media Arts faculty member Chandler McWilliams will present a paper titled The Slow Ephemeral and chair a panel titled Language in Artistic Practices at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, Nov. 9—12. In December, the Conditional Studio—which McWilliams directs—is presenting an installation at the Day for Night Festival in Houston, Texas, Dec. 15—17.

Rebeca Méndez
Design Media Arts professor Rebeca Méndez is one of a select group of keynote speakers at Bend Design 2017 in Bend, Oregon, Oct. 26 & 27.

Catherine Opie
Art professor Catherine Opie has work in the group exhibition This is Not a Selfie at the San Jose Museum of Art, on view through Jan. 15, 2018 and two solo exhibitions—Catherine Opie: Portraits and Landscapes at Thomas Dane Gallery, London, through Nov. 18 and Catherine Opie: Keeping an Eye on the World at Henrie Onstad Santorium, Norway, through Jan. 7, 2018.

Guvenc Ozel
Architecture & Urban Design professor Guvenc Ozel is working on a cyberphysical wearable sculpture and VR simulation called Cypher sponsored by Google’s Artists and Machine Intelligence Program. Cyper is currently in process with expected completion in November.

Hirsch Perlman
Art professor and chair Hirsch Perlman will present at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts for the Chicago Humanities Festival, Nov. 5. Perlman has work in the group exhibition Anna Helm, Lisa Lapinski, Hirsch Perlman at Midway Contemporary Art, through Nov. 4.

Casey Reas
Design Media Arts professor Casey Reas, together with Professor Lauren McCarthy, organized and gave a talk at Processing Community Day at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oct. 21. Reas has work in a group exhibition, Drawn Score, at the Beall Center, Irvine, through Feb. 3, 2018 and an upcoming solo exhibition, Stochastic Confabulation, at University Art Gallery at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, Nov. 2—Dec. 1. The Conditional Studio, directed by faculty member Chandler McWilliams with participation from Reas and McCarthy, is presenting an installation at the Day for Night Festival in Houston, Texas, Dec. 15-17.

Peter Sellars
World Arts & Cultures/Dance distinguished professor Peter Sellars' new opera Girls of the Golden West will premiere at the San Francisco Opera Nov. 21—Dec. 10. Sellars will also speak at the UCLA Friends of English event, Dec. 1.

Jennifer Steinkamp
Design Media Arts professor Jennifer Steinkamp is participating in two group exhibitions currently on view—Virtual Views: Digital Art from the Thoma Foundation, at the Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida, through Dec. 31 and Nature Morte at Guildhall, London, through Apr. 2, 2018. Steinkamp will present a solo exhibition of work at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Jennifer Steinkamp: Judy Crook, through Jan. 21, 2018 and will unveil a new public art installation Winter Fountains for the Parkway at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Nov. 30, 2017—Feb. 28, 2018.

Eddo Stern
Design Media Arts professor Eddo Stern's Vietnam Romance will be showing in the Hanoi DocFest Documentary and Experimental Film Festival at the Goethe Institute Hanoi through Nov. 11.

Rodrigo Valenzuela
Art professor Rodrigo Valenzuela presents three solo exhibitions: New Land at McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Charlotte, North Carolina, through Dec. 2; Labor Standards at Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, through Apr. 22, 2018; and General Song at Feature Hudson Foundation, New York, New York, Nov. 3, 2017—Feb. 3, 2018. Valenzuela will also present work in three group exhibitions: The Time. The Place. Contemporary Art from the Collection at The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington, Nov. 4, 2017—Mar. 25/Apr. 22, 2018; Monarchs: Brown and Native Contemporary Artists in the Path of the Butterfly at Bemis Center, Omaha, Nebraska, Dec. 7, 2017—Feb. 28, 2018; and PLAY at Pulse Art Fair, Miami, Florida, Dec. 7—Dec. 10.

Read more about the renowned School of the Arts and Architecure faculty here.

The Opening 2017–18

On the first day of classes, the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture community kicked off the 2017–18 academic year with its second annual Opening celebration. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni from across the school's four academic departments and three public arts presenters collaborated on a series of creative projects, exhibitions, and performances that fostered connectivity and showcased the vision and voices of the school's community. Read coverage of the event in the Daily Bruin, see highlights below, and keep an eye out for information about future all-school gatherings!

 Featured Artists:

• DJ Sets by a c p l d j s, Balan Bezaleel '17 M.Arch.I & Samora Deng '17 M.Arch.I; LIINE WEIIGHT, Skylar Elis '16 B.A.; DJO, Professor Mark Mack
• The UCLA Game Lab
• Interactive Photo Project by B.A. Candidates Stefanie Tam and Hannah Madeline
• Jackie Lopez, B.A. ’04 and the Versa Style Dance Company
• Collaborative Art Project by UCLA Arts Conditional Studio with Director Chandler McWilliams, Professor Casey Reas, Aaron Koblin '06 M.F.A., and Matthew Miller '11 B.A.
• Video Screening by Professor Casey Reas
• I Am Erica, an exhibition curated by Department of Art M.F.A. candidates Adrian Abela, Shasha Dothan, and Amedeo Polazzo>
• Literary Lounge by POOL Magazine, sponsored by UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

UCLA Arts is grateful for the contributions of its event supporters: